Quality improvements at Iowa hospitals save money, lives

Tuesday, February 25, 2014 3:04 PM

A comprehensive quality improvement program at Iowa hospitals prevented potentially life-threatening complications for hundreds of patients and saved millions of dollars in health care costs in 2013, according to a new analysis by the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. The 127 hospitals participating in the Iowa Hospital Engagement Network prevented potential harm to more than 4,300 patients and reduced health care costs by more than $51 million. The goals of the program, which is part of the federal Partnership for Patients initiative, are to reduce patient harm by 40 percent and hospital readmission rates by 20 percent. Participating Iowa hospitals focused on reducing avoidable complications such as hospital infection rates and adverse drug reactions. The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative estimates that the program reduced the time that patients spent in hospitals by more than 17,000 days last year and saved at least 32 lives.